This Easter, the Church Is Rising from the Grave

Dr Morrello thinks that Britain is undergoing a religious revival. If it is, may it spread across Europe and bring it back to the Holy Faith that formed it.

From The European Conservative

By Sebastian Morrello, PhD

The country’s elites and powerholders would do well to take Christ’s advice and learn to interpret the signs of the times.

The Head of the Church of England, HM King Charles III, issued a statement celebrating Eid, the conclusion of the Islamic month of fasting called Ramadan. (In fairness, His Majesty also issued an Easter Message. ~ JW) Then, last month, more than 350 people gathered in St. George’s Hall, in Windsor Castle, to break their Ramadan fast. 

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had also celebrated Ramadan, at what he called a “difficult time for Muslims in the UK” during an iftar event in Parliament. At the event, the Prime Minister took the opportunity to condemn the “wave of hatred we have seen directed towards British Muslims,” which he said was “whipped up by far-right rhetoric and disinformation.” 

Even the West Yorkshire Police took to the streets—no, not to prevent crime or do anything resembling policing—to hand out boxes of dates to Muslims, with which to break their daily fast at sundown.

Brits are not expecting, in their country where Christianity is the religion by law established, to see any such celebrations by the establishment of the resurrection of Jesus Christ this Easter, or any acknowledgement that Christians have just spent the last forty days undertaking Lenten fasts and penances. It is difficult not to conclude that the country’s institutions are preparing to be on the ‘right side of history’ as the United Kingdom enters its Islamic period in history.

The elites may, though, have jumped the gun on this one. There’s an odd characteristic about these isles—the explanation for which remains obscure—namely that more or less every hundred years Britain undergoes a dramatic Christian revival. 

The culture of Britain was established by Christianity. Every village, town, and city in the land is punctuated with church spires and towers. Britain has a unique choral tradition, liturgy, and Christian history. Over the state stands a sacral monarch (though the current incumbent of that institution seems unclear about this). Brits are undeniably a Christian people, or they’re no people at all. The truth of this fact, as I say, rears its head about once a century.

Ever since Henry VIII’s Reformation, when the Church was subordinated to the state and became a creature of temporal powerholders, Brits have had to negotiate the problem of what we’ve come to term ‘secularism.’ And in dealing with this problem, they have fluctuated from religious indifferentism to religious enthusiasm, and back again. 

Following the Reformation, there was a time of downplaying religious differences and emphasising the secular ambitions of cultural innovation and seafaring exploration in the Elizabethan period, but within a century the country was thrown into religious turmoil under the Stuarts. Following the 1688 Revolution, there was a time of religious apathy and during much of the 18th century the clergy were considered a mere branch of the gentry (and not a very respectable one at that; just read Jane Austen); yet within a century an extraordinary spiritual awakening led by John Wesley transformed the religious life of the country. Then, amid industrialisation and empire management, the country underwent a religious cooling; that continued until the Oxford Movement radically transfigured the religious landscape.

There are no doubt complex reasons for the religious rollercoaster on which Britain seems to be stuck, but it is certainly stuck on it, and its history indicates that it is very ripe for another Christian revival. Indeed, the next revival appears already to be about 20 years late. (On the other hand, since the last revival there was the small interruption of two world wars, which may have interfered with the cycle a bit.)

Is there anything, though, that indicates that such a Christian revival is coming to the UK? In fact, there’s a lot to suggest that the country is already in its throes. Madeline Grant over at The Telegraph has written about the mysterious upsurge of church attendance specifically among young people throughout the country, and at the same newspaper, Catherine Pepinster has been reporting on the attraction among many young Brits to the Catholic Church, and the extraordinary and growing number received into communion with Rome each Easter. Moreover, so-called thought leaders like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Paul Kingsnorth are recent converts talking openly about Christianity as the ultimate response to the maladies of our world. Even Richard Dawkins now feels under pressure to reinvent himself as a “cultural Christian.”

Earlier this month, The Bible Society released a report entitled The Quiet Revival, which noted:

In 2018, 4% of the 18- to 24-year-olds reported that they attended church monthly, compared with 16% in 2024. For men, this increased from 4% to 21%, and, for women, from 3% to 12%.

Of course, between 2018 and 2024, rather a lot of reflection took place during the mass house arrest which nearly everyone seems to have conveniently forgotten about. But there is nothing to indicate that this Christian revival is slowing down or going to stop anytime soon. 

At present, according to The Bible Society’s report, “among 18-34s, only 20% of churchgoers are Anglican (down from 30% in 2018), with 41% Catholic and 18% Pentecostal.” What the running of the Thames into the Tiber might mean for the future of England’s established Church has yet to be seen.

So, what does this revival entail for the multicultural, religiously diverse United Kingdom? Many conservatives have feared for some time that the country was moving into an Islamic future, given high immigration, the larger family sizes among Muslims, and the rate by which Westerners have been converting to Islam. Many Muslims have looked at this same trajectory with glee, which can be made evident to anyone by half an hour spent at London’s Speaker’s Corner.

Unfortunately, as is revealed by the history of the 7th-century Arab seizing of Christian North Africa, the subjugation of the Iberian Peninsula for seven centuries, battles like Lepanto and the Siege of Vienna, the collapse of Lebanon, and the current persecution of Christian minorities in Pakistan, Sudan, Egypt, Nigeria, and so many other countries, Islam has a very well-established tradition of intolerance towards Christians. There is no history, in fact, of religious minorities in Islamic countries enjoying the sort of tolerance and respect that Muslims have enjoyed in the West to date. 

The historically illiterate will usually, at this point, highlight the case of the Crusades. In turn, I’ll just note that the Crusades were defensive operations launched only after two-thirds of the Christian world had been violently conquered by Islamic forces over the course of five centuries. Crusaders travelled out to support the Byzantine Emperor, who had called on the West to defend Europe, as Islamic armies were at that moment storming Constantinople. Crusaders only remained in the Holy Land to protect defenceless Christian pilgrims who hitherto were routinely robbed, raped, and murdered by Muslim raiders.

Whatever the complicated history of Islam’s relation to the West, it is conceivable that certain UK Muslims who thought Islam was in the ascendent may not take too kindly to the revival of a confident Christianity in the UK. The country has a decades-long history of contending with radicalised and belligerent Muslims who support or even join militant or terrorist Islamic movements. Consequently, it has even seen the beheading of military personnel and the stabbing of children on its streets. Hence, amid a Christian revival, the country should probably anticipate some ensuing tensions.

In any case, at a time of the year when Christians the world over celebrate the resurrection of their Lord—and, incidentally, both Catholic and Orthodox Christians will celebrate Easter on the same Sunday this year—perhaps we should all take stock of this resurrection of the Church quietly taking place in this ancient Christian kingdom to the west of the European continent. As for the country’s elites and powerholders, they would do well to take Jesus Christ’s advice, and learn to interpret the signs of the times (Matthew 16:3).